Centrum für Chronische Immundefizienz - CCI

Our lab investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate hematopoiesis — the process of continuous replenishment of blood and immune cells from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) throughout life. We aim to understand how this complex process is regulated at steady state and modulated under pathological conditions such as infection or the acquisition of somatic mutations. Such modulation can enhance protective immune responses (e.g. ‘trained immunity’), but may also result in long-term immune dysregulation and disease. To this end, we apply in vivo barcoding technologies to trace clonal trajectories and uncover lineage relationships at high resolution during both steady-state and perturbed hematopoiesis.

A second core focus of the lab is the direct conversion (‘transdifferentiation’) of lymphocytes into myeloid subsets through transcription factor-mediated cell reprogramming. This strategy enables the robust and controlled generation of defined myeloid cell types and provides a platform for mechanistic studies of innate immune responses and disease modeling.

Group Dr. Branko Cirovic

CV

Since 2024      Independent Junior Research Group Leader, Institute for Immunodeficiency, Medical Center - University of Freiburg

2019-2024      Postdoc, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

2016-2019      Postdoc, LIMES, University of Bonn, Germany

2010-2015      PhD, Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

2008-2010      M.Sc. Molecular Biosciences (Major Cancer Biology), Heidelberg University & German Cancer Research Center, Germany

2005-2008      B.Sc. Molecular Medicine, Ulm University, Germany

Publications

10 Selected Publications

1. Ng CE, Yokomizo T, Yamashita N, Cirovic B, Jin H, Wen Z, Ito Y, Osato M (2010) A Runx1 intronic enhancer marks hemogenic endothelial cells and hematopoietic stem cells. Stem Cells
2. Cirovic B, Schonheit J, Kowenz-Leutz E, Ivanovska J, Klement C, Pronina N, Begay V, Leutz A (2017) C/EBP-Induced Transdifferentiation Reveals Granulocyte-Macrophage Precursor-like Plasticity of B Cells. Stem Cell Reports
3. Sander J*, Schmidt SV*, Cirovic B, Mcgovern N, Papantonopoulou O, Hardt AL, Aschenbrenner AC, Kreer C, Quast T, Xu AM, Schmidleithner LM, Theis H, Thi Huong LD, Sumatoh HRB, Lauterbach MaR, Schulte-Schrepping J, Gunther P, Xue J, Bassler K, Ulas T, Klee K, Katzmarski N, Herresthal S, Krebs W, Martin B, Latz E, Handler K, Kraut M, Kolanus W, Beyer M, Falk CS, Wiegmann B, Burgdorf S, Melosh NA, Newell EW, Ginhoux F, Schlitzer A, Schultze JL (2017) Cellular Differentiation of Human Monocytes Is Regulated by Time-Dependent Interleukin-4 Signaling and the Transcriptional Regulator NCOR2. Immunity
4. Cirovic B, Katzmarski N, Schlitzer A (2019) Analysis of High-Dimensional Phenotype Data Generated by Mass Cytometry or High-Dimensional Flow Cytometry. Methods Mol Biol
5. Dos Santos JC, Barroso De Figueiredo AM, Teodoro Silva MV, Cirovic B, De Bree LCJ, Damen M, Moorlag S, Gomes RS, Helsen MM, Oosting M, Keating ST, Schlitzer A, Netea MG, Ribeiro-Dias F, Joosten LaB (2019) beta-Glucan-Induced Trained Immunity Protects against Leishmania braziliensis Infection: a Crucial Role for IL-32. Cell Rep
6. Cirovic B*, De Bree LCJ*, Groh L, Blok BA, Chan J, Van Der Velden W, Bremmers MEJ, Van Crevel R, Handler K, Picelli S, Schulte-Schrepping J, Klee K, Oosting M, Koeken V, Van Ingen J, Li Y, Benn CS, Schultze JL, Joosten LaB, Curtis N, Netea MG, Schlitzer A (2020) BCG Vaccination in Humans Elicits Trained Immunity via the Hematopoietic Progenitor Compartment. Cell Host Microbe
7. Koeken VA, De Bree LCJ, Mourits VP, Moorlag SJ, Walk J, Cirovic B, Arts RJ, Jaeger M, Dijkstra H, Lemmers H, Joosten LA, Benn CS, Van Crevel R, Netea MG (2020) BCG vaccination in humans inhibits systemic inflammation in a sex-dependent manner. J Clin Invest
8. Katzmarski N*, Domínguez-Andrés J*, Cirovic B*, Renieris G, Ciarlo E, Lepikhov K, Kattler K, Gasparoni G, Handler K, Theis H, Beyer M, Van Der Meer JWM, Joosten LaB, Walter JM, Schultze JL, Roger T, Giamarellos-Bourboulis EJ, Schlitzer A, Netea MG (2021) Transmission of trained immunity and heterologous resistance to infections across generations. Nat Immunol
9. Bégay V, Cirovic B, Barker AJ, Hart D, Bennett NC, Lewin GR; Immune competence and spleen size scale with colony status in the naked mole-rat. (2022) Open Biol
10. Fanti AK*, Busch K*, Greco A^#, Wang X^#, Cirovic B^#, Shang F^#, Nizharadze T^#, Frank L, Barile M, Feyerabend TB, Hofer T, and Rodewald HR (2023). Flt3- and Tie2-Cre tracing identifies regeneration in sepsis from multipotent progenitors but not hematopoietic stem cells. Cell Stem Cell